Back to the present: Hendo Hoverboard is on Kickstarter, will launch October 2015

So you watched Back to the Future as a kid, and always dreamed of having your own hoverboard? Well, the future is now, apparently, because a hoverboard has been invented and is currently up on Kickstarter for some crowdfunding cash injection.

No, you don't have to check your calendar and wonder if we're in the middle of spring, not autumn – this isn't a joke – an enterprising company called Arx Pax has indeed invented the technology for the board which levitates just above the ground, as if by magic.

Except it isn't magic, but rather magnets, and therein lies the catch with the device. You won't be able to go skimming around the world McFly style, rather, you can only hover above metal surfaces (specifically, a "non-ferromagnetic conductor").

But that doesn't mean skate parks (well, hover parks) won't be able to be built with such metal surfaces. Hendo, the company with its name to the board (which is in partnership with Arx Pax that came up with the tech), says that: "Right now we use commonly available metals in a simple sheets, but we are working on new compounds and new configurations to maximise our technology and minimise costs."

The Hendo Hoverboard uses four circular "hover engines" which create the magnetic field to push the board off the ground. As of the eighteenth prototype which the team is now on, it levitates about an inch off the ground (check out the video above to see the thing in action).

As we write this, the board has achieved $71,000 (£44,000) worth of funding, towards a $250,000 (£155,000) goal, with 54 days remaining. You can pledge small amounts for stickers, fridge magnets (that don't hover) and T-shirts, but if you want the board itself, that'll run you to $10,000 (£6,200). The first ten hoverboards to glide off the production line are on offer for that sum, and four of them have already gone.

A 21 October 2015 launch is planned for the Hendo Hoverboard, which, completely coincidentally, just happens to be the date that Doc Brown and Marty McFly arrive in the future at the start of Back to the Future II, and get to play with the infamous hoverboard.